California Superfund Site: El Toro Marine Corps Air Station
Fight Air Pollution & Water Pollution With an Environmental Toxic Tort Lawsuit

Are you in need of a Toxic Tort Lawyer in The Golden State? The US EPA has designated El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in California as a Superfund site because of its amounts of environmental toxins and harm to the natural world. You can read the report for the site below.

Some Superfund sites are on the National Priority Site Lists. The National Priorities List ("NPL") is the list of hazardous waste sites in the United States eligible for long-term remedial action financed under the federal Superfund program. Environmental Protection Agency regulations outline a formal process for assessing hazardous waste sites and placing them on the NPL. The NPL is intended primarily to guide the EPA in determining which sites warrant further investigation.

Sites are listed on the NPL upon completion of Hazard Ranking System (HRS) screening, public solicitation of comments about the proposed site, and after all comments have been addressed. EPA may delete a final NPL site if it determines that no further response is required to protect human health or the environment. Sites where a remediation was completed through the Superfund program are typically deleted from the NPL.

Living near Superfund Sites in California may place you and the people you love at higher risk of developing a disease from exposure to the site and experiencing a loss of value for your property, but action is being taken to fight back: The EPA says,

[We have] set up a "Post Construction Completion" (or PCC) strategy to ensure that Superfund response actions provide for the long-term protection of human health and the environment. EPA's Post Construction Completion activities also involve optimizing remedies to increase effectiveness and/or reduce cost without sacrificing long-term protection of human health and the environment.

Below you can read the EPA report for the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station Superfund site. If you, a loved one, or someone in your community has suffered due to toxic pollution in El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, or if your property has lost value because of contamination, you are better off with a toxic tort attorney who knows the people of the State of California . You can begin the process of filing a claim by filling out this simple form. There is no obligation, and your case will be evaluated within one business day. To refer a friend, neighbor, or loved one, follow this link to let them know about the environmental toxic tort lawyers at Weitz & Luxenberg.

El Toro Marine Corps Air Station

This site is a Federal Facility.

Updated: February 3, 2005

EL TORO MARINE CORPS AIR STATION
CALIFORNIA
EPA ID# CA6170023208

EPA Region 9
City: Irvine
County: Orange
Other Names:

Site Responsibility:

This site is being addressed through Federal actions, with the Navy as the lead agency.

NPL LISTING HISTORY

Proposed Date:06/24/1988

Final Date:02/21/1990

Deleted Date:

Two large aircraft hangars were the primary source of the VOC contamination detected in groundwater. This contamination is the principal threat at El Toro. The four landfills have been inactive from 25 years to more than 50 years. There are some low levels of contamination, primarily VOCs and metals, detected in groundwater adjacent to the landfills. However, the contaminant plumes appear to be stable and are not migrating. No drinking water sources have been contaminated. The Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve is potentially threatened.

Groundwater Sites 18 & 24 : An investigation into the nature and extent of groundwater contamination was completed in 1997. The Navy concluded negotiations with the Orange County Water District and the Irvine Valley Ranch Water District on a joint desalter and VOC treatment project to address El Toro contamination. Final signatures on the Agreement by the Boards, the Navy, and the Department of Justice were obtained in July 2001. A remedy was proposed in November 2001 and a public meeting was held on November 14, 2001. The public comment period ended on December 7, 2001 with no significant comments received. The ROD was signed by all Parties on June 27, 2002. The Navy submitted their schedule for remedial design and remedial action in July 2002. The Navy is on schedule to complete remedial design in early 2005 and will begin remedial action construction in mid 2005.

Soil: An interim Record of Decision (ROD) for Site 24 soil was signed in September 1997 to address soil contaminated with VOCs in the vicinity of the two aircraft hangars. The soil contamination has impacted the groundwater beneath the base. The selected remedy was Soil Vapor Extraction (SVE). The SVE system used at Norton Air Force Base was taken to MCAS El Toro, retrofitted, and operated from May 1999 to September 2000. Rebound testing at that time confirmed that soil gas cleanup goals had been attained. The regulators have approved the Navy's closure plan for the site. However, soil gas and groundwater monitoring wells will remain in place until operation of the groundwater cleanup system begins.

USTs: Abandoned Wastewater Treatment Lines and Tanks: El Toro Marine Corps Air Station began a study into the nature and extent of contamination caused by abandoned wastewater treatment lines and leaking tanks. The investigation was completed in mid-1996. Thus far, 372 underground storage tanks (USTs) have been declared for no further action. EL Toro has constructed free product removal systems and SVE systems as deemed appropriate by the State. Work at 35 USTs is on-going at this time.

Landfills: A Proposed Plan to cap the four landfills - Sites 2 &17 and Sites 3 &5 -- went out for public comment in March 1998. In addition to capping, two of the landfills (Sites 2 & 17) will undergo habitat restoration for the endangered California Gnatcatcher. An interim Record of Decision (ROD) for Landfill Sites 2 & 17 was signed in April 2000. The 90% Desgn has been completed for Sites 2 and 17 and the Navy plans to begin construction of the caps in Summer 2005. The Pre-Design Investigation Workplan for Sites 3 and 5 was finalized in August 2002 and fieldwork began in Fall 2002. The draft Feasibility Study Addendum is due in early 2005 with a revised ROD to be issued later in the year.

OU3A Sites: A draft final Feasibility Study (FS) for Sites 8 (former DRMO Storage Yard), 11 (former transformer storage area) and 12 ( former sludge drying bed) was submitted for agency review in January 1998. The Sites are contaminated primarily with PCBs in the soil. Groundwater is not impacted by these Sites. A ROD for Site 11 requiring soil removal was signed in September 1999 and an Explanation of Significant Differences was signed in May 2003. The Navy plans to begin excavation and disposal of contaminated soil at Site 11 in the Spring of 2005. A FS Addendum will be developed for Site 8 in Spring 2005. The ROD for Sites 8 and 12 will be reissued in late 2005 and remedial work at these sites should commence in early 2006.

OU3B Sites 7 & 14: A draft RI report for Sites 7 (former drop tank storage and drainage area) and 14 (former battery acid disposal area) were submitted to the regulatory agencies in September 1999. A ROD documenting No Further Action for Sites 7 and 14 was signed by the Navy and EPA in Spring 2001. The ROD for Site 16 was signed in July 2003.

OU9 - Site 16, Former Crash Crew Training Pits and Fire Fighting Training Pits: Site 16 is located within the runways and was an area contaminated with VOCs and petroleum hydrocarbons due to its use as a fire fighting training area where large quantities of solvents were dumped in the pits and then set on fire and subsequently doused with water and chemicals. Soil and groundwater was contaminated with TPHs and VOCs. In 1999-2001, and multi-phase extraction pilot study was conducted which removed significant amounts of VOCs from the soil but had little impact on the groundwater. In September 2002, the Navy released its Proposed Plan and held a public meeting recommending Monitored Natural Attenuation (MNA) for cleanup of the groundwater and continued monitoring of the soil. Petroleum contamination will be handled under the State cleanup program. A final ROD was issued July 2003. As part of remedial design, the Navy conducted a predesign action to assist in evaluating whether MNA is operating effectively. The action will will be concluded in mid 2005 and the final remedial design documents will be submitted shortly thereafter.

Site 1 - Former Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Range: The Navy is currently conducting a Remedial Investigation at the former EOD Range. The Range was in operation from 1952 to 1999 when the base ceased operations. Military Ordnance used at the Range included hand grenades, land mines, cluster bombs, rocket warheads as well as commercial explosives. The RI report is due to be released in early 2005. Major concern to date includes a groundwater plume of perchlorate discovered beneath the range.

After adding the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station to the NPL, the EPA performed preliminary investigations and determined that no immediate actions were required while further investigations are underway.

The public information repositories for the site are at the following locations:

Heritage Park Regional Library,
Reference Section,
14361 Yale Street,
Irvine, CA 92714
(949) 551-7151

The most complete collection of documents is the official EPA site file, maintained at the following location:

Superfund Records Center
Mail Stop SFD-7C
95 Hawthorne Street, Room 403
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 536-2000

Enter main lobby of 75 Hawthorne street, go to 4th floor of South Wing Annex.

EPA SITE MANAGER:

Richard Muza/R9/USEPA/US

ADDRESS:

75 Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105

PHONE NUMBER:

(415) 972-3349

E-MAIL ADDRESS:

muza.richard@epa.gov

EPA COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT COORDINATOR:

ADDRESS:

PHONE NUMBER:

E-MAIL ADDRESS:

PUBLIC INFORMATION CENTER:

(415) 947-8701

E-MAIL ADDRESS:

r9.info@epa.gov

STATE CONTACT:

Tayseer Mahmoud, Cal/EPA DTSC

ADDRESS:

5796 Corporate Ave., Cypress, CA 90630

PHONE NUMBER:

(714) 484-5419

PRP CONTACT:

F. Andrew Piszkin, MCAS El Toro

ADDRESS:

7040 Trabuco Rd, Irvine, CA 92618

PHONE NUMBER:

(949) 726-5398

COMMUNITY CONTACT:

Bob Woodings

ADDRESS:

RAB Co-Chair

PHONE NUMBER:

(949) 461-3481

State Environmental Protection Agency

US Environmental Protection Agency

(800) 852-7550

(800) 424-8802

STATE:

CA

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT:

47

EPA ORGANIZATION:

SFD-8-1

• Site Description and History

•  Maps
•  Images

•  Description
•  Environmental Data

•  Response Action Status

Soil: An interim Record of Decision (ROD) for Site 24 soil was signed in September 1997 to address soil contaminated with VOCs in the vicinity of the two aircraft hangars. The soil contamination has impacted the groundwater beneath the base. The selected remedy was Soil Vapor Extraction (SVE). The SVE system used at Norton Air Force Base was taken to MCAS El Toro, retrofitted, and operated from May 1999 to September 2000. Rebound testing at that time confirmed that soil gas cleanup goals had been attained. The regulators have approved the Navy's closure plan for the site. However, soil gas and groundwater monitoring wells will remain in place until operation of the groundwater cleanup system begins.

EPA SITE MANAGER:

ADDRESS:

PHONE NUMBER:

E-MAIL ADDRESS:

EPA COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT COORDINATOR:

ADDRESS:

PHONE NUMBER:

E-MAIL ADDRESS:

PUBLIC INFORMATION CENTER:

E-MAIL ADDRESS:

STATE CONTACT:

ADDRESS:

PHONE NUMBER:

PRP CONTACT:

ADDRESS:

PHONE NUMBER:

COMMUNITY CONTACT:

ADDRESS:

PHONE NUMBER:

STATE:

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT:

EPA ORGANIZATION:

source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Act Now! It is essential that you inquire about your pollutant lawsuit as soon as possible. California law may limit your time to bring a legal claim to protect your rights. Your legal review is free and there is no commitment. You case will be evaluated immediately, so get started on your claim today!

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see also:

Edwards Air Force Base Environmental Pollution in California- Site: Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base Superfund Site Info - Fight Air Pollution, Water Pollution

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California Superfund Site Info - Fight Air Pollution, Water Pollution